Jana I happened to visit my local bar courtesy of a visiting old friend from Nairobi. As we sat downing the bottle one of the niggers by my side and looked tensed up and would take occasional gulps of his drink (hunters choice). At first I ignored him thinking I was over thinking but after sometime realized he was stressed. In the spirit of reaching out to a brother and fighting depression I inquired if something was stressing him and promised to help him if possible. He at first assured me that he was just fine and was just tired after a hard day’s work. However with time we got talking and I got to know him. He hails from the Kano Plains and came to Nakuru to hustle as a Mechanic and we shared our experiences. He then opened up and told me he was traumatized from an encounter that had taken place the last 12 hours.
Friday Saturday after a lengthy day Jakano had retired to his diggz around Ngata area of Nakuru when he got a distress call from an unknown number. In his line of duty and the spirit of hustling he at times receives calls into the night when customers are stuck with stalled cars and he has to be of assistance. On this day the distress call was from section 58 and he took a motorbike to the place. A car had stalled by the roadside with three occupants, a lady and two gentlemen. On reaching the place he conducted a mechanical assessment of the vehicle and realized the vehicle had a dead alternator and was the reason for stalling. He told me he knew he could solve the issue there and then but took it with him in order to stretch his service charge promising his clients to solve the issue early morning and fix their car. He helped them push the car to a nearby petrol station where the vehicle was parked for the night and he was reimbursed of his fares and given a down payment. Early next morning he solved the issue returned the alternator and fixed to which the vehicle got normal again. They then requested him to take them on a test drive as they access if the car had been solved before they paid him and he accepted with the test distance being Molo. He sat on the back seat with one of the guys as the lady sat beside the other guy at the front and off they left. During the journet they had small talk and some manly jokes as they got to know each other. Along the way the guy in the back of the car dropped keys and when he stretched to pick them, Jakano saw the silhouette of a gun in the guy’s t-shirt. He was frightened but tried to hide it knowing things could either be right or wrong. Right if they were police and wrong if they were criminals. As the vehicle moved on he decided to analyze his surrounding environment and realized a gun butt sticking out of the seat he was seated on.
From then he got really scared as multiple scenarios crossed his mind. If the guys were criminals being tracked and police stopped him, he would be charged as an accomplice. If the guys were being tracked by the police (flying squad) and the vehicle got sprayed with bullets he would also die as a result of being in the wrong place and the wrong, would people believe he was a mechanic killed as collateral? What if the guys decided to kill him as a way of evading payment? What would happen to his families? (He also takes care of his mum in the village). What if the guy wanted to rob him too? All this time he was willing to alight from the vehicle even without pay as long as he was safe. During the journey his hosts realized he was very silent and asked him why he was suddenly silent to which he respondent that he was trying to listen to the vehicle and detect any other mechanical issues. However, deep down thin sweat was trickling down his spine. On getting to Molo which was the agreed distance they handed him his agreed charge without bargaining, kshs 20k. He didn’t even count the money out of fear but put the money in his pocket bade them farewell and got on his way bakc. Out of paranoia that police or the same people could be following him he didn’t go to Nakuru straight but took a car to Njoro planning to commute from there to town. When he got to Njoro the guys called him asking if he had got to town to which he responded yes and told him they wanted to warn him as a brother that 10K of the 20K was fake currency. From Njoro he took a car to town paranoia taking the better of him then went towards Nakuru national park where he spent time around that area until evening when he went to his house and narrated everything to the wife. With the help of the wife they were able to isolate the fake currency and incinerate it then he came out to cool his nerves. He swore to me that he will never respond to a night call unless it was someone he knew very well. The narration made him tell us other chilling incidents he had met in his line of work.
One day Jakano was called to go and work in Narok county and fix a knocked engine. The work took place at one of the Maasai’s home. As the work progressed he got talking with the lady of the home something that his host took offence and asked him ‘Erro mimi napea we kazi na wewe nabembelesa bibi yangu’, thinking that the guy was joking he told him casually ‘Erro mi naongea tu na mama’. Nigger took so much offense and pulled out an AK 47 from the house telling him to get out of his home. He told me had never ran that much in his life. He ran for a very long time until someone stopped him and asked him why he was running that’s when he realized no one was following him. With very little money he was almost stuck and was thinking of calling home when he got a lift from a lorry going to Nakuru that knew him. He told me that he left all his tools in Narok that day and had to begin from the scratch. Along the way they were stopped by a maasai herdsboy who came running very fast making his hairs to curl with fear. When the herdsboy reached them he requested for a lift to the next stage some ten kilometres away. Despite being three men which is the maximum they made room for the young man. He informed them that his fellow herdsboy was sick and he was rushing home to get some herbal medicine for a running stomach. He then looked at the speedometer and asked ‘erro ni saa ngapi kwa hii saa’? Ilibidi tu Jakano atoe simu mfuko and tell the guy it was 3pm.
Another incident took him to Pokot county to repair a broken down supplies lorry. In Pokoto he realized women walked with open bossoms. Since he came from where people fully clothed and being a fisi he couldn’t help safisharing mecho with the different kienyejis. One of the young men saw his fisiness and asked him ‘wewe nataka hi?’ to which he responded ‘hapana, nlikua nafikiria kuleta wazungu waletee wa mama nguo’. Later on their way back the driver confided in him that his response had saved his life. According to the driver saying yes would have made the Pokot see competition in him and shoot him without second thoughts. From these episodes I remembered Baldwin's episode about his trip to South Sudanese bushes and the thought of a gun being pointed at him. I also remembered Mikel’s encounter with Turkana motorcycle goons and a gun being pointed at him. Personally I have never come close to a gun except in Call of Duty and wouldn’t wish for one.